Following an outcry from the salmon farming industry, the Trudeau government has backed away from its election campaign commitment to phase out open net pen salmon farming on B.C.’s West Coast by 2025. 

Jane Deeks, press secretary for Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, confirmed in an email to The Narwhal that a transition plan will be developed by 2025 but open net pen salmon farms will not be removed by that date. 

“Our government is working on a responsible plan to transition the industry away from open net-pen salmon farming in B.C., and we have committed to developing this plan by 2025,” Deeks said in an email in response to questions from The Narwhal.

“Our government will not impose drastic, systemic change on Canadian communities,” Deeks said. “We believe that the best policies come from meaningful engagement with those who will be directly affected.” 

Stan Proboszcz, science and campaign advisor for the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, called the recasting of the Liberal government’s election promise “borderline deceitful.”

“I think it’s quite slippery to now hear from the minister, after the election, after they’re in power, that there’s a new re-interpretation of the promise … that now they’re just going to come up with a plan to remove farms by 2025,” Proboszcz said in an interview.

Wording became ‘murky’ after election

The Liberal Party’s campaign platform said a re-elected Trudeau government “will work with the province to develop a responsible plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal waters to closed containment systems by 2025.”

But when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued mandate letters for his ministers in mid-December, Jordan was instructed to work with the B.C. government and Indigenous communities “to create a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025.” 

All mention of closed containment systems had vanished, leaving the phrasing open to interpretation.

“Going into the election we were all pretty clear what the promise was,” Karen Wristen, executive director of Living Oceans Society, an ocean conservation organization based in Sointula, B.C., said in an interview.

“There’s no question that the language became somehow murky and ambiguous when the mandate letter was issued.” 

The salmon farming industry was quick to condemn the Liberal’s promise to phase out open net pen farms by 2025, saying it would cause “undue stress and pressure” for almost 7,000 families who depend on salmon farming for their livelihoods. 

Alf-Helge Aarskog, chief executive of Mowi ASA, the world’s largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, said he was confident Trudeau’s re-election would not affect the company’s operations in B.C., where it employs 600 people and farms about 45,000 tonnes of salmon a year.

“We work with any government there is and I’m sure when [Trudeau] puts his mind to it, this will not be an issue,” Aarskog told the industry publication Intrafish. 

Mowi, formerly Marine Harvest ASA, garnered media attention days before Christmas when up to 20,000 of its Atlantic salmon, a species not native to Pacific waters, escaped from a pen in Queen Charlotte Strait following an electrical fire.

Federal NDP fisheries critic Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni) said the Liberal government has done nothing to respond to the escape “except that they’re going to come up with a plan.” 

“When people raised concerns they answered that these fish are docile, that they wouldn’t make it up our streams and that the sea lions would eat them,” Johns said in an interview. 

“That’s the kind of response that people just don’t find acceptable for foreign exotic species being released into our natural environment, in areas where there’s migrating Pacific salmon.” 

The escape heightened fears that farmed salmon — which can be infected with sea lice and diseases such as piscine orthoreovirus, a highly contagious virus linked to a host of fish health problems — will affect rapidly declining wild salmon stocks.

Highly contagious virus found in majority of Clayoquot Sound salmon farms: report

Following the escape of hundreds of thousands of salmon from an open net pen farm in 2017, the state of Washington committed to phasing out all open net pen Atlantic salmon farming operations by 2025. 

The state also stopped hundreds of thousands of salmon infected with an Icelandic strain of piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) from being transferred to the farms, saying wild salmon could be at risk. 

Both Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association maintain the piscine orthoreovirus is no cause for concern. 

In B.C., infected fish are still transferred to ocean pens even though a June 2018 DFO study suggested “migratory chinook salmon may be at more than a minimal risk of disease from exposure to the high levels of PRV occurring on salmon farms.” 

Johns said the Trudeau government’s revised commitment to develop a plan by 2025 is “simply not good enough.” 

“It’s not acceptable. Our wild salmon simply cannot wait. We have had a catastrophic year.”

Last year’s Fraser River salmon returns were the lowest in recorded history, Johns noted. Only 300 chinook returned to Clayoquot Sound last year and Skeena River salmon were “decimated,” he said. In the Alouette River in Maple Ridge, 60,000 chum were expected last year but only 500 returned. 

“We have a government that is not dealing with it as the crisis that it is,” Johns said. 

“We have a salmon emergency taking place in British Columbia, and this will be the government that will watch our salmon go the way of our Atlantic cod. It will be under their watch, because inaction is something that will lead to it.”

New study says land-based farming is viable now

Deeks said a federal study on salmon aquaculture technologies, released on Feb. 4, six months after it was promised, is a crucial step for developing an “evidence-based and responsible” transition plan.

The 64-page study, State of Salmon Aquaculture Technologies, evaluates four approaches for farming Atlantic salmon. 

It concludes that both land-based fish farming and hybrid approaches — keeping fish in land-based containment systems past the smolt-stage and then growing them to market size in the sea — are technologies ready for commercial development in B.C. 

Floating closed containment systems need two to five more years to review while offshore production systems will take five to 10 years to evaluate, the study found.

The study, which examines the economic, environmental and social impacts of the four technologies, will inform the government’s plan for phasing out open net pen farms, Deeks said. 

“We recognize the value that new technologies can bring to help ensure aquaculture is done in the most environmentally sustainable and economically viable way.” 

Johns pointed to the federal government’s failure to act on recommendations made by the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, saying it erodes British Columbians’ trust that Ottawa will actually have a plan in place by 2025.

Among its recommendations, the Cohen commission said the government should remove from DFO’s mandate “the promotion of salmon farming as an industry and farmed salmon as a product” and DFO should “act in accordance with its paramount regulatory objective to conserve wild fish.” 

But even though the Liberal government, in its 2015 election platform, promised to act on the recommendations of the Cohen commission, Johns said Ottawa continues to play the role of a “double-agent,” retaining responsibility for both wild salmon and fish farming.

“Now we’re talking about a plan for 2025. British Columbians just don’t believe it any more.” 

Bonny Glambeck, campaigns director for Clayoquot Action, a Tofino-based conservation group that recently discovered piscine orthoreovirus on 14 out of 15 active salmon farms in the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve, including on chinook salmon farms, said the transition to land-based containment is already underway in B.C. 

Last year, the B.C. government negotiated an agreement last year with First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago — where open net pen farms are located along a wild salmon migration route — to close 17 open net pen farms over a four-year period. 

Four farms will be out of the water this spring, Glambeck noted. Ninety-five fish farm tenures will expire in 2022 and the companies that run them do not currently have protocol agreements with First Nations, as required by the new agreement, she said.

“Without that protocol agreement those tenures will not be renewed. So those farms will be coming out. And by 2023 we could see up to 102 fish farms removed from B.C. waters.” 

Government foot-dragging will only have a negative impact on salmon farming workers and coastal communities, Glambeck said. 

“We believe that the [federal fisheries] minister needs to come up with a plan quickly to support workers and communities through this transition … we need an orderly and responsible plan to take care of B.C. communities and workers who are going to be impacted by this.”

Deeks said the federal government is working in partnership with Indigenous peoples and the B.C. government, as well as with industry leaders, to find the “best paths forward.” 

“Canadians expect the government to have an informed, responsible plan to transition open net-pen salmon farming in B.C., and that is what we are working on with our partners.”

Johns said the federal government should follow the lead of Washington state and quickly transition to land-based salmon farming that keeps jobs in communities. 

“We also need to take a real hard look at the wild fishery and the importance of those jobs to the local economy. We just saw our commercial catch go from 42 million pounds — the 10-year average — to three and a half million pounds this year,” he said.

“We need to bring our wild species back to abundancy … if we wipe out our wild salmon industry the amount of jobs lost are much greater than they would be in the aquaculture industry, that’s for sure.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Salmon at a majority of Clayoquot Sound fish farms are infected with the Norwegian strain of a highly contagious virus, according to an investigative report released Wednesday. 

The report by Clayoquot Action, a Tofino-based conservation society, says feces, flesh and scale samples from 14 out of 15 farms tested positive for the piscine orthoreovirus, a disease that gained notoriety after a video of bloody discharge from packing plants in Tofino and Campbell River went viral in December 2017.

Laboratory testing by the B.C. government showed the underwater effluent was contaminated with piscine orthoreovirus, a disease found in 80 per cent of farmed Atlantic salmon that is linked to a host of fish health problems, including heart and skeletal muscle inflammation and haemorrhages in internal organs. 

Clayoquot Action campaigns director Bonny Glambeck said it’s particularly concerning to find piscine orthoreovirus on Chinook salmon farms located along wild salmon migratory routes in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Four of the active farms the group tested are owned by Creative Salmon, the only company raising Chinook on a large scale in open net pen farms in B.C. Most B.C. open net pen operations — including 11 other active farms tested for the study, which are owned by Cermaq, a Mitsubishi subsidiary headquartered in Norway — produce Atlantic salmon, a species not native to the Pacific Coast.

“Wild Chinook salmon in Clayoquot Sound are on the brink of extinction,” Glambeck told The Narwhal. 

“This is just the final nail in the coffin with all the stresses that the wild salmon are undergoing right now.”

An open-net pen salmon farm in Clayoquot Sound. Photo: Clayoquot Action

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says a B.C. strain of piscine orthoreovirus has been found in salmonids off the B.C. coast since 1987 or 1977 — about the time salmon farming began — and has a “low ability” to cause disease. 

Laboratory testing commissioned by Clayoquot Action found the strain in Clayoquot Sound fish farms is a Norwegian variant of the disease, known as PRV-1a. 

Atlantic salmon eggs — 30 million of which were imported to B.C. — are the most likely source of contamination, according to the report, Going Viral: Norwegian Salmon Farm Virus Threatens Clayoquot Chinook.

“It’s very, very concerning,” Glambeck said. 

“They are essentially denying the existence of this Norwegian variant in British Columbia waters … It’s just shocking to me that they continue to deny that it is damaging and dangerous to wild salmon, pretending that it’s not happening.”

Terry Dorward, a Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation councillor, said the federal government is spreading “disinformation” about the piscine orthoreovirus variant found on salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound, whose biodiverse rainforest islands support many species dependent on wild salmon.

“This is similar to what my people — Indigenous people — experienced when we were given smallpox blankets,” Dorward told The Narwhal. “We were nearly wiped out. And I believe the same thing is happening to our wild salmon.” 

There is scientific evidence that piscine orthoreovirus is harmful to salmon. A June 2018 DFO study confirmed that piscine orthoreovirus in Pacific Chinook is strongly associated with the rupture of red blood cells, resulting in jaundice, organ failure and death.

The findings suggest that “migratory Chinook salmon may be at more than a minimal risk of disease from exposure to the high levels of PRV occurring on salmon farms,” according to the study.

Shawn Hall, a spokesperson for the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, said there is “nothing new” about information in the Clayoquot Action report. 

Hall said the same variant of the virus is present in both B.C. and Norway and “is not virulent. It doesn’t make fish sick.” 

“Our fish go into the ocean without PRV, from land-based hatcheries which are based here in B.C.,” Hall said. 

“We’re not importing anything. Our fish are raised from local broodstock in local hatcheries. They go into the water without PRV and they pick it up in the ocean just as wild fish do … the strain that they found is the strain that we knew was here and it’s not causing significant issues.” 

Hall pointed to a study conducted in 2018 after fears were raised, following the video of bloody discharge at the packing plants, that wild salmon could be harmed by piscine orthoreovirus.

The study notes that piscine orthoreovirus is a causative factor to the disease Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI), that fish infected with the virus may not exhibit any symptoms and that the virus appears to have far less of an impact on fish in B.C. than it does on salmon in Norway.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and UBC, also notes research gaps that need to be addressed “as PRV is a recently discovered virus and its pathogenicity to salmonids is still a mystery.”

Wild salmon smolts swim past the open nets of a fish farm in Clayoquot Sound. Photo: Tavish Campbell

Dorward said an agreement the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation signed with Creative Salmon has been “in limbo” since the chief and council voted last year to ask the company to remove open net pen farms from the nation’s traditional territory.

The vote followed a visit to salmon farms last summer, when Dorward said he and others saw deformed farmed fish and wild salmon swimming through open net pens.

“Over the years we’ve witnessed the collapse of the fisheries and the negative impacts it has to our coastal communities … We know there’s other factors involved, [like] climate change … Some things we can’t stop. But we can stop this particular issue of open net salmon farms,” he said.

“These organisms are extremely successful viruses that can mutate and spread. The protection of our wild salmon is at great risk here.” 

In 2018, the state of Washington announced that open net pen Atlantic salmon fish farms would be phased out by 2025. The state also stopped hundreds of thousands of salmon infected with an Icelandic strain of piscine orthoreovirus from being transferred to the farms, saying wild salmon could be at risk.

A map showing the location of fish farms in Clayoquot Sound. Sites where the piscine orthoreovirus was found are denoted in red. Map: Wilderness Committee

Clayoquot Action is one of a number of groups and First Nations calling on the federal government to prohibit the transfer of piscine orthoreovirus-infected fish to open net pen farms. 

Last year, following parallel legal cases brought forward by biologist Alexandra Morton and the ‘Namgis First Nation that aimed to prevent the transfer of smolts infected with the virus to open net pens, the courts ordered Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to revise its piscine orthoreovirus policy and apply the precautionary principle by June 4. DFO subsequently received a four month extension from the courts. 

But during the fall federal election campaign, when there was no sitting fisheries minister, DFO said it would not screen for piscine orthoreovirus or prevent the transfer of piscine orthoreovirus-infected fish to salmon farms. 

In an emailed statement in response to questions from The Narwhal, DFO said it had determined in October 2019 that testing for the B.C. strain of PRV is not required under fishery regulations in order to authorize a fish transfer license. 

“While this decision was based on best available information and science, the department will continue to adapt its approach to managing PRV, if warranted by new science or information,” the statement said. 

 DFO also noted the World Organization for Animal Health does not consider PRV to be a reportable disease and there is no human health risk associated with the virus. 

The ‘Namgis First Nation is now taking the federal government back to court, asking for a review of the October 2019 decision to continue to allow salmon farms to be stocked with piscine orthoreovirus-infected fish. 

As a campaign promise, the Trudeau government pledged to work with the province of B.C. and Indigenous communities to create a plan to transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal B.C. by 2025 — a commitment also outlined in the mandate letter for Bernadette Jordan, the newly appointed federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Many people interpreted the promise to mean open net pen farming on B.C.’s coast would end by 2025. Yet Jordan subsequently clarified that she has five years to prepare for a transition, implying that open net pens could remain in coastal waters past 2025.

Dorward said the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation wants Creative Salmon either to move to closed containment systems for salmon farming or to transition to kelp farming, which he said would also create jobs, be better for the environment and help meet a growing global demand for kelp.

“We need to be more proactive and creative in finding solutions to these disease outbreaks or we’re going to completely wipe out our wild salmon which we greatly depend on on the west coast,” he said.

Glambeck said a team of staff and volunteers conducted 25 field trips to the fish farms, scattered along Clayoquot Sound’s meandering inlets, from May to December 2019. Farms were visited multiple times, she said. 

Sampling vials used by researchers with Clayoquot Action. Photo: Jeremy Mathieu

“We would use a fine mesh aquarium net on a long pole and we would go around the fish farms — very close, within a few feet of the farms — and we would just scoop up little bits of fish scales and feces and bits of flesh, the type of thing that floats out of the farms.” 

Dozens of samples were put on ice and shipped by courier to the Atlantic Veterinary College where they were tested by virology professor Fred Kibenge, chair of the department of pathology and microbiology. Kibenge, who declined to be interviewed, is editor of the journal Aquaculture.

Some of the samples were taken last November after an unseasonable algae bloom caused a massive die-off at Cermaq operations in northern Clayoquot Sound, killing 200,000 fish. Clayoquot Action sent decomposing flesh and other matter from the die-off to the Atlantic Veterinary College, where it tested positive for the Norwegian variant of PRV.

Glambeck said she first heard of piscine orthoreovirus during the Cohen commission investigation into the decline of Fraser River sockeye, when federal government genomic scientist Kristi Miller testified that she had been asked to help Creative Salmon diagnose why fish were jaundiced and discovered the company’s farmed Chinook had piscine orthoreovirus (PRV). 

“It’s a particular concern that Creative Salmon has PRV on their farms that is replicating and adapting to a specific species, and spreading through the waters of Clayoquot Sound,” Glambeck said. 

“Viruses and pathogens on these farms become more virulent with the amount of fish crowding on the farms so we’re really concerned that this virus will become even more dangerous to Chinook and other Pacific species than it is now.” 

According to the report, a salmon farm infected by piscine orthoreovirus can release as many as 65 billion viral particles an hour, which are spread far and wide by tidal currents. 

“Because fish breathe by passing water over their gills, it is dead easy for PRV to enter the bloodstream of wild fish,” the report said.

Salmon farming companies referred questions to the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.

Updated at 2:40 p.m. on Feb. 6 to include comment from DFO, which was not able to respond to questions by our deadline. 

Updated at 12:40 p.m. on Feb. 7 to add the words “Atlantic salmon” to the following sentence: In 2018, the state of Washington announced that open net pen Atlantic salmon fish farms would be phased out by 2025.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Willie Moon’s family used to catch hundreds of salmon a day on B.C.’s Kingcome River, ensuring a winter supply of smoked fish for members of the remote Dzawada’enuxw First Nation.

“This year I had my net in for the winter dog salmon [chum] and I believe I only caught 13 in the month of November,” Moon, a hereditary leader, told The Narwhal.

“That’s drastic and scary for our people.”

Moon and other members of his community were in Vancouver Thursday to file an Aboriginal rights lawsuit against Canada that challenges federal fish farm licenses within their traditional territory in the Broughton Archipelago — the latest action in the nation’s escalating bid to revive shrinking Pacific salmon and eulachon stocks.

If successful, the lawsuit would not only close fish farms that affect the Dzawada’enuxw nation but could potentially be used by other First Nations to shut down salmon farms throughout B.C.’s coast, according to lawyer Jack Woodward, who is representing the Dzawada’enuxw [pronounced ‘tsa-wa-tay-nook’].  

“Somewhat unfairly, the focus has been on the provincial government’s role in this,” Woodward said in an interview.

“They’re just the landlord… It’s not nice for a landlord to rent space to a person who carries on an illegal business but the real culprit is the person who carries on that illegal business. And that’s exactly what we say is happening here. It’s Canada who’s authorizing this illegal business. It’s the provincial government that rents the space for it.”

Left: A map of Dzawada’enuxw traditional territory, filed as part of the First Nation’s claim. Right: location of fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago.

Last May, the Dzawada’enuxw First Nation took its quest to shut down fish farms to a new level when it filed a claim of Aboriginal title in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming that tenures granted by the province to several companies — the leases that give the farms a place to operate — are not authorized because they are in Aboriginal title areas.

But the lawsuit filed Thursday marks the first time a First Nation has ever challenged fish farm licenses granted by Ottawa based on the assertion of Aboriginal right, said Woodward, who represented the Tsilhqot’in Nation in a landmark case that determined the nation holds title to about 1,900 square kilometres of its traditional territory in B.C.

“These challenges to the federal permits are different,” Woodward said in an interview. “They are challenges to the idea, in contravention of the Dzawada’enuxw’s Aboriginal rights, that you can introduce Atlantic salmon to Pacific waters. That’s the fundamental problem here.”

Farmed Atlantic salmon affecting wild Pacific salmon

There is mounting evidence that Atlantic salmon farming adversely affects declining Pacific salmon runs.

The DFN federal court statement of claim says fish farms expose wild salmon and eulachon populations to higher levels of harmful fish parasites, including sea lice.

It states that viruses, including piscine orthoreovirus (PVR) are known to occur in farmed salmon raised in open net pen farms on the B.C. coast and can be transferred to wild salmon and eulachon populations.

It also claims there is a credible body of scientific evidence indicating a direct link between PRV and heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI), noting that both PRV and HSMI are known to have deleterious effect on fish.

Fish farms pollute and degrade the marine environment around the net pens and underwater lights can attract wild eulachon and salmon and expose them to increased risk of harm and predation, the statement of claim also says.

“I believe they’re doing a lot of damage to our seafood,” Dzawada’enuxw member Melissa Willie told The Narwhal. “I work in fisheries and I see the damage.”

All five species of salmon are usually found in the Kingcome River, although chum, coho and spring are the most common, Willie said. But last year salmon were so scarce that her smokehouse sat unused. She and other community members had to fill their freezers with sockeye caught outside of their community, said Willie, the DFN fisheries community coordinator.

Fish farms could remain in Broughton

In December, following negotiations with some First Nations but not with the Dzawada’enuxw, the B.C. government announced what it called a “ground-breaking” process.

The government said new recommendations would allow for an orderly transition of 17 fish farms, operated by Marine Harvest Canada and Cermaq Canada, from the Broughton area by 2024 and establish a “farm-free migration corridor in the Broughton in the short term to help reduce harm to wild salmon.”

But seven of the fish farms would be permitted to remain if aquaculture companies reach agreements with First Nations, and displaced salmon farms would be able to set up shop elsewhere on the coast.

The December recommendations were brokered between the B.C. government and three First Nations, but not with the Dzawada’enuxw. Woodward said the recommendations do not address the Dzawada’enuxw nation’s concerns, which include the impact of fish farms on migrating salmon.

Woodward also pointed out a different government may be in power in B.C. before the farms move.

“That’s merely a political promise,” Woodward said. “There’s no contractual obligation to remove them.”

And even though most of the tenures included in the phase-out are in the traditional territory of the Dzawada’enuxw, the nation was not part of the agreement, Woodward said.

“So it’s a bit audacious of all the parties to that agreement including the provincial government, to make an agreement about the timing and location of those tenures without consulting the party most affected.”

‘We’re looking at the bigger picture’

The Dzawada’enuxw First Nation doesn’t want to wait five years for fish farms to leave its traditional territory, said Moon, who took part in a Vancouver press conference an hour after the lawsuit was filed along with Woodward, elected Dzawada’enuxw chief Farron Soukochoff and Eddie Garder, president of the Wild Salmon Defenders’ Alliance.

“We still don’t feel it’s enough yet,” Moon said in an interview. “We’re looking at the bigger picture…protecting our territory.”

The Dzawada’enuxw says it has an Aboriginal right to harvest eulachon and salmon for food, ceremonial and social purposes in the “Dzawada’enuxw Rights area” which encompasses both land and sea and stretches from west of Fife Sound near Gilford Island, through the Kingcome Inlet fjord near Broughton Island, and up the Kingcome River.

Woodward said legal experts and First Nations will be watching carefully to see if the federal government adheres to its new policy of ‘respectful litigation’ on matters concerning Indigenous peoples, and to see “if they adhere to their stated embracing of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and whether they are going to fight this one or concede.”

A 2018 report by Canada’s commissioner of the environment and sustainable development found the federal government has put wild salmon species in danger by not adequately managing risks associated with salmon farming.

Moon said his nation is determined to remove fish farms to protect wild salmon and eulachon – also known as a candlefish because of its oily composition – and a traditional way of life.

That way of life is showcased in a new exhibit that opened Thursday at UBC’s Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, titled Hexsa’am̠: To Be Here Always. The exhibit features the work of Dzawada’enuxw artists and addresses threats to the land and waters of Kingcome Inlet through film, video, weaving, animation, drawing, language and song.  

“I see the beauty, the quietness, and being able to be free there,” Moon said. “All the fish farms having an impact on our resources, that’s what scares us. Once that’s out of the way we’d feel at peace again and at one with our territory.”

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Tahlequah is the whale heard around the world.

Just over a week ago, just off the coast of Victoria, the 20-year-old orca gave birth to the first new baby to enter the endangered Southern Resident population in three years. Less than an hour later her daughter was dead. Yes, researchers say the baby was female.

As of Thursday Tahlequah (aka J-35) has kept her daughter’s dead body afloat, and paraded her several hundred kilometres around the Salish Sea, for ten days.

Ken Balcomb, founder of the Centre for Whale Research in Washington State, believes she’s making a statement. To us.

Balcomb, has spent the last 40-plus years watching, or watching for, these orcas and he’s never seen anything like this. When we spoke on day three of Tahlequah’s mourning ritual an orca expert from New Zealand sent him a photo of a whale there who carried her decomposing calf for five days. At the time, five days seemed impossible.

Orcas may have done this before, but humans haven’t witnessed it. And now, thanks to Tahlequah, people around the world are learning that this critically endangered population is starving to death.

Tahlequah and her family are also showing the world what anyone familiar with orcas already knows. They look after each other. Jenny Atkinson, director of the Whale Museum on San Juan Island, says her family members are taking turns holding their lost future aloft.

This is a funeral. This is a ritual. This is love.

In Psychology Today, Marc Bekoff wrote, “Orca mom J-35 and her podmates are grieving… animals suffer from broken hearts just like we do.”

Yes, Tahlequah’s story is in Psychology Today.

Her story is everywhere. Tahlequah’s vigil is viral.

TIME shared it — although they kept the word “grieving” in quotation marks.

The New York Times has published several stories and their headlines aren’t putting grief in quotes.

Entertainment magazines like People are covering Tahlequah like she’s just been cast in a show by Shonda Rhimes.

Upworthy shared the Upworthy part of the tragedy — that females from Tahlequah’s family are grieving with her.

Lynda Mapes, who owns the orca beat for the Seattle Times, wrote that in 20 years of reporting she’s never seen anything like the emotions this story is stirring up. The Times is running an online questionnaire asking readers how the “plight” of this orca is affecting them and, more importantly, what they want done about it. The Victoria Times-Colonist is doing the same.

The world is watching.

In Canada that means the spotlight is on the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline and oil tanker project and threats to wild salmon. Before the Trans Mountain expansion was approved, the National Energy Board warned that if nothing went wrong with their pipeline and not a drop of oil ever spilled, the increased tanker traffic alone would result in “significant adverse effects” to the southern resident orcas.

I asked every orca expert I knew whether a population of 83 could survive “significant adverse effects.” They all offered me a variation on “hell no.” We’re now down to 75 orcas.

Almost everyone I’ve heard mention the impact of a seven-fold increase in oil tankers on the orcas refers to extinction as a “possibility,” but fails to cite a single expert who doesn’t believe it’s a certainty.

Canada’s federal government recently committed almost $170 million to finding threats to the southern residents that won’t upset Albertans. And, hey, there is a fisheries closure — though it’s later and less complete than orca experts warned would be vital this year.

I’d be delighted that the Trudeau government is spending $170 million to help these orcas if I didn’t suspect their endgame was to keep them alive just long enough for a future federal government to preside over their extinction.

The southern residents feed almost exclusively on Chinook salmon. For years, the federal and provincial governments have failed to take heed of warnings and expert recommendations on how to restore wild salmon populations.

The threats continue to pile up: The Narwhal recently reported that a provincial audit showed waste being dumped by fish processing facilities is “lethal to fish.” B.C. Environment Minister George Heyman has called the permitting of these facilities “outdated.”

Meanwhile, this spring the B.C. government announced confusing new fish farm rules that ask First Nations to decide what to do about the whole issue of fish farms on wild salmon migration routes. In a startling coincidence, the new rules won’t come into effect until after the next provincial election.

South of the border, the spotlight is on the Snake River dam — an anachronism that is now ineffective as an energy producer, but still does a world-class job of preventing salmon from reaching their spawning beds. But the Washington government would rather shoot sea lions — which makes sense, because no matter how well a sea lion can be trained, you still can’t get one to vote.

If U.S. environmentalists seize the moment, perhaps Tahlequah and her dead daughter can be the rallying point in the fight to save the Environmental Protection Act.

And Canadians can demand that our governments start acting on information we’ve had for years, instead of declaring that anything that could potentially cost votes requires further study.

Balcomb is urging people on both sides of the border to contact Governor Jay Inslee’s officewhile his orca task force is underway and to put the heat on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the Trans Mountain pipeline and threats to wild salmon.

It’s time for everyone who cares about orcas, oceans and the planet to seize the moment and join J-Pod in holding Tahlequah’s dead daughter up for the world to see.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

A majority of B.C.’s fish processing facilities are out of compliance with their permits and some are discharging effluent “acutely lethal to fish,” according to a provincial audit report released Wednesday.

“This audit clearly tells us more work needs to be done to ensure our coastal waterways are safe for all wild fish stocks,” B.C. environment minister George Heyman said in a statement.

“The industry has been largely operating under an outdated permitting regime, going back several decades.”

The environment ministry conducted the audit after an underwater video filmed by photographer Tavish Campbell showed a stream of bloody effluent pouring into the water from farmed salmon processed by the Browns Bay Packing Company near Campbell River.

The bloody wastewater was tested and found to contain piscine reovirus (PRV). The virus has been linked to a potentially deadly disease known as HSMI that causes heart lesions and organ hemorrhaging in fish, heightening concerns about the impact of open-net pen salmon farms on the health of diminishing wild salmon populations.

Waste from fish processing plants includes “offal and other solids created during eviscerating, skinning and, filleting and also the process water that is used in fluming, butchering and cleaning,” according to the audit report.

The audit found that 72 per cent of the processing facilities examined were out of compliance with their permits, also noting that most of those permits lack the “foundational requirements” for environmental protection.

“Permits that are decades old aren’t satisfactory to protect the environment,” Heyman told The Narwhal.

“We need to review our permits more frequently.”

The ministry will begin that process by focusing on the highest volume fish processing plants, Heyman said.

Farmed salmon represent almost 70 per cent of all seafood processed at B.C.’s facilities, which also process wild salmon, other wild finfish, farmed trout, and other seafood. The audit examined 18 facilities, five of them exclusively dedicated to processing farmed salmon.

While the majority of the infractions were administrative, such as failing to post signage, more serious violations included poor effluent discharge quality and exceeding permitted discharge volumes.

Sixty per cent of the facilities whose effluent was examined as part of the audit were out of compliance with discharge volumes, including the Browns Bay Packing Company, and 50 per cent were out of compliance with discharge quality standards.

“The results of the fish toxicity tests show that four out of six effluent samples taken are acutely lethal to fish in the lab environment, meaning that the toxicity tests resulted in 50 per cent or more fish mortality,” the audit report stated.

No assessment for the presence of PRV was conducted.

Campbell commended the environment ministry for commissioning the report, calling it a “good first step.”

“I found it very distressing to dive in Brown’s Bay and see this blood coming out and have an idea that it was infected with this virus that was harming wild salmon. It feels good that there’s been a response,” he told The Narwhal.

“But it’s certainly not the end to my work to try to bring about more awareness of these viruses.”

Campbell said he’s surprised and dismayed that the audit used outdated information on PRV, drawing on a March report by the B.C. Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences instead of a paper published in May by scientists from DFO and the Pacific Salmon Foundation that highlighted a link between PRV and disease in Chinook salmon.  

“They’re not taking into account the latest science that says that PRV is a risk to wild salmon.”

“We’re calling on the government to recognize that these viruses, and especially PRV, do pose more than a minimal risk of harm to wild salmon,” he said.

The audit pointed out that the only test method currently available for PRV involves detecting genetic material present in effluent, and that B.C. lacks adequate lab capacity to monitor and report on viruses.

Heyman said the ministry is aware of the most recent study on PRV and “that’s exactly why we want to work with the federal government to reduce the impacts of PRV on fish stocks to the greatest extent possible.”  

Green Party MLA and environment spokesperson Sonia Furstenau said the audit findings illustrate why the government should adopt recent recommendations to reform B.C.’s professional reliance model, which puts industry in charge of its own environmental monitoring.

“Many British Columbians were horrified, like I was, to see Tavish Campbell’s videos of blood water effluent that prompted this audit,” Furstenau said in a statement.

“It is no wonder people don’t trust the process when we must rely on private citizens and the media to bring such serious issues to light.”

The audit comes on the heels of an announcement by the B.C. government that starting in 2022 it will only grant tenures to salmon farm operators who have reached agreements with First Nations.

Heyman said the government is taking immediate steps to ensure permits are updated and strengthened at fish processing facilities.

Among the environment ministry’s new recommendations are to modernize existing permits to include “additional environmental protection provisions, such as more rigorous discharge requirements and increased monitoring,” and to require fish processing facilities to review and update their standard operational procedures “to reduce the volume and maximize the safety of effluent discharged into the environment.”

Furstenau said adopting both the professional reliance recommendations and the environment ministry’s recommendations “will go a long way to restoring the public’s trust that government is looking out for their health and safety, as well as the long-term sustainability of our natural resource sector.”

Campbell, a campaign spokesperson for the environmental group Wild First, said the farmed salmon industry must be transitioned out of the water and onto the land.

“That really is the only solution to stopping the spread of these viruses — to grow these salmon in closed containment systems on land.”

“When we’re talking about the blood water I think it’s really important to acknowledge the fact that even if the processing plants improve the treatment of their effluent these farmed fish that are infected with PRV are still being raised in open net pens, just miles down the channel from these processing plants.”

Adam Olsen, Green Party MLA and agriculture spokesperson, pointed to the release of infected blood from farmed fish as another reason why the NDP government should keep its promise to transition away from open-net pen finfish aquaculture.

“Wild salmon are culturally, economically and environmentally essential to our province, yet we are allowing them to be hit at every stage of their development,” said Olsen. “Now we learn they have also been exposed to ‘acutely lethal’ levels of effluent.”

Of 91 different groupings of B.C. wild salmon, only 28 are expected to have sufficient numbers for a healthy population in 2018, according to DFO.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

The law of unintended consequences could see the NDP government’s new rules regulating fish farm tenures have the opposite effect, says B.C. Green Party MLA Adam Olsen.

The new regulations, which do not take effect until 2022, say companies must negotiate agreements with First Nations in whose territory they propose to operate and the industry must convince Fisheries and Oceans Canada their operations will not adversely affect wild salmon stocks.

Expiring tenures in the Broughton Archipelago, which have been the focus of First Nations protests and frustrations, are being renewed on a month-by-month basis while government-to-government talks are held between the province and First Nations in the area.

Olsen worries the NDP plan will create division among First Nations as some, within the immediate coastal area, could be persuaded to welcome the industry because of lucrative benefit agreements without broader consideration of the effect on wild salmon.

Government is taking the long overdue step of ensuring the industry offers benefits to First Nations, but divide and conquer tactics could potentially turn First Nations against each other, Olsen said.

If the Department of Fisheries and Oceans continues to allow the industry to operate, instead of open net pens disappearing within four years, as anticipated, there could actually be an increase, Olsen said.

“If this creates more fish farms, which might be the case, what happens to the First Nations who rely on the salmon, but are not in the territory of those farms?” he asked.

“This has been profiled as a step forward for reconciliation and Indigenous relations, but I would say there has been one-half step forward and one full step back,” he said.

“I don’t think this was fully thought through,” he said.

The Narwhal held a wide-ranging question and answer session with Olsen, a member of the Tsartlip First Nation, whose critic roles include ministries responsible for fish farm tenures and aboriginal relations.

Are wild salmon runs threatened by fish farms?

I am becoming increasingly convinced by science that is being published that not only sea lice but (diseases) have been proved to transfer from the farms to the wild salmon.

What are the other factors affecting wild salmon?

Fish farms pose a large threat to wild salmon, but human behaviour is posing a large threat as well.

Agricultural practices, watershed management or mismanagement, how we use critical salmon habitat as drainage ditches and the nutrient loads and pesticides. It’s the same with municipal development and how we build our communities and our roads.

We should be making sure critical salmon habitat is not blocked and it’s the same with forestry practices. If we are cutting irresponsibly and not preserving and protecting critical creek habitat then they have no place to return home to.

What do wild Pacific salmon mean to you?

They are part of my family…We are the salmon people and we have been taught to respect that family and recognize the importance to the environment, to our communities culturally and to the economics.

I see them as being the perfect symbol of how we should be working towards creating a sustainable environment, a sustainable society and a sustainable economy.

Are you optimistic we will have wild salmon four years, 10 years, 20 years from now?

Yes, I am optimistic because our salmon relatives are very resilient.

They have taken everything we have thrown at them and, yes, there has been a devastating collapse and the sense of urgency is probably not where it should be, but good salmon policy is good environmental, economic and social policy and what I have been encouraging government to do is put the political will behind a commitment to conserving, protecting and enhancing wild salmon habitat. Then they do have a good chance.

The provincial government has a lot more responsibility for wild salmon than we take ownership of.

We are the regulatory authority in all those areas and if we showed the political will to put the fish at the centre of decision-making and not some political calculation, we will do good for them.

What do you think of NDP efforts to protect wild salmon — better than the BC Liberals?

To be candid, it doesn’t take much to be better than the Liberals on this file and frankly that’s not good enough.

In the early 2000s, then minister John van Dongen said — and I am paraphrasing — wild salmon are not the focus, the focus is private industry and fish farms.

The NDP government has said they will get behind wild salmon and I want them to keep saying that and then I want them to do it and go all in on it.

These salmon are in our blood, in our veins, they run through us and a very high percentage of British Columbians want this government to go all in on wild salmon.

What would you do differently if you were in government?

I think it is critical to have support of local First Nations, but there are broader conversations that need to take place with Indigenous communities across the province.

Salmon are not localized. They are not born and raised and die in the same area, they have this massive migration pattern so everyone is implicated when anyone makes a decision to farm salmon.

What we would have done (with) the expiring tenures in the Broughton Archipelago, is we would have allowed those fish in the net pens to be harvested and we would then have cancelled the tenures and required the companies to decommission the site.

It’s an industry that has been encouraged by government, with 6,000 workers, so we would then invest in the innovation side of moving this industry on land. We, as government, would have supported the industry in the transition.

The second piece is that we would have helped them brand a product that is environmentally friendly, ocean-safe salmon. It would be a premium product with premium value.

When someone in California or Oregon is purchasing a product they could look at it and say ‘this is a B.C. product and it’s ocean-friendly.’ Unfortunately what’s going on here is the government is trying to be all things to everybody and we are not at the head of that innovation.

The other piece is that this is an example of a changing industry and the government could have embraced that and seen an opportunity to help workers in transition because this is not going to be the last time in which an industry is replaced by another industry and workers are displaced.

We could have learned how to support other workers transitioning from an industry that has been hit by innovation.

Are you convinced closed containment could be done on a large scale?

These companies in B.C. that are saying it’s not viable are making investments in other parts of the world because that’s the way this industry is going.

As a provincial government and federal government, which owns a lot of the blame, we are allowing these companies to pollute for free. We are allowing the blood water to be released and fecal matter to pile up and all sorts of behaviour and if these farms were on land they would have to deal with their waste.

The people of B.C. are picking up a lot of their costs, so, of course, the mathematics are going to look different, but we can demand better.

They are pushing back strongly against these changes because it benefits and suits them.

What about the federal government’s role? Why has the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) not been more assertive in protecting wild salmon?

I have a very poor perception of DFO. I grew up on the Tsartlip Reserve and the relationship between DFO and our communities has not been a good one. They have not treated us well.

I think there’s a conflict of interest. They are not only responsible for wild salmon, they are also responsible for the aquaculture industry and the growth of the industry.

Your favourite recipe for salmon?

Straight up — on the barbecue with salt and pepper.

This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

The B.C. NDP came to power last year promising to protect wild salmon and keep fish farms away from wild salmon migration routes like the Broughton, an archipelago where ocean currents funnel past hundreds of rainforest islands, bringing nutrient rich water to a plethora of sea life.

On Wednesday — in a sometimes unclear and other times downright confusing announcement that Agriculture Minister Lana Popham described as a “bold” new approach to salmon farming — government unveiled two new rules that will affect the renewal of salmon farming tenures in B.C. waters.

Media reports have described the new rules as amounting to a First Nations’ veto power over fish farms. But that’s been contested by government. Others were expecting B.C. to cancel fish farm tenures in the Broughton, where First Nations have protested their existence for years. But the new rules won’t apply to those farms.

So how exactly should we understand the bold new announcement that has so many people scratching their heads? The Narwhal plunges in.

First of all, the new rules won’t take effect for four years, until 2022.

Yup, that’s right, 2022 — a timeframe that Chief Bob Chamberlin, vice president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, called “four years too late” and Adam Olsen, the B.C. Green Party spokesperson for wild salmon, called embarrassing and a “failure of leadership.”  

“It’s like surgeons announcing that starting in 2022 they are going to start washing their hands before procedures,” said Olsen. “This should’ve been the standard all along.”

The reason for the extended timeframe, according to government, is that the vast majority — almost 80 per cent — of B.C.’s finfish farm sites have federal licences set to expire in 2022.

Did the government give First Nations a veto over salmon farms?

No, according to Popham.

“There is no veto,” the minister told reporters.

And here’s where confusion begins to set in.

Under the first new rule, B.C. will only grant tenures to fish farm operators who have “negotiated agreements with the First Nation(s) in whose territory they propose to operate.”

But some First Nations have overlapping traditional territories and some First Nations support salmon farming while other oppose. It’s not clear if fish farm operators must negotiate agreements with all First Nations involved before tenures are granted starting in 2022, or just some.

At a press conference, Popham dodged questions about what constitutes an agreement, saying she was not going to speak “on behalf of First Nations” or define consent.

Some First Nations leaders praised the new rule, saying it is in keeping with the B.C. government’s pledge to uphold the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Stan Proboszcz, the science advisor for Watershed Watch Salmon Society, called it a “positive step in the right direction.”

“It’s kind of revolutionary for any government — provincial or federal — to really not let this industry get exactly what it wants,” Proboszcz told The Narwhal.

Did the government cancel any salmon farming permits in the Broughton?

No.

Twenty fish farm tenures in the Broughton, nestled between the north end of Vancouver Island and the Coast Mountains of mainland B.C., were set to expire at midnight on Wednesday.

The government announced that the Broughton is excluded from its new framework salmon farm tenures and said tenures in the archipelago will now be renewed on a month-to-month basis, a move welcomed by First Nations leaders.  

Month-to-month tenures are “not unusual,” according to the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, which pointed out in a news release that some previous tenures rolled over monthly for up to five years.

Popham said the short tenures will allow the government to continue talks with Broughton-area First Nations in an effort to resolve concerns about specific open net pen farms.

“I sat in the Big House in the Broughton area in the fall and elders looked at us and told us their freezers were bare,” the minister told reporters.

“That’s a lens that in the past we haven’t looked through when making decisions and making policy and that’s the lens that we’re using.”

Some view the exclusion of the Broughton from the new rules as a sign that open net pen farms in that region could be shut down before 2022.

“There is a fair bit of hope now in the Broughton Archipelago,” Proboszcz said.

The Broughton has been the nexus of salmon farming protests and legal actions aimed at removing fish farms from wild salmon migration routes, as evidence mounts that farmed salmon diseases negatively impact shrinking wild salmon stocks, especially during smolt migrations.

The ‘Namgis, Musgamagw and Mamalililukulla First Nations recently participated in a months-long occupation of a Marine Harvest fish farm in the archipelago.

In March, the ‘Namgis filed an application for an injunction against Marine Harvest to prevent the company from restocking a fish farm with up to one million Atlantic salmon smolts.

While the injunction was unsuccessful, the judge agreed there is “real and non-speculative likelihood of harm” to the First Nation’s way of life due to fish-borne disease.

The Dzawada’enuxw First Nation recently took the fight against salmon farms in the Broughton to a new level by filing a claim of aboriginal title in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming that several salmon farming tenures are not authorized because they are in Aboriginal title areas.

Most of the 10 fish farms affected by the title claim have annual licences from DFO.

A second new rule has to do with satisfying federal regulators at the DFO

Here’s where the B.C. government’s “new approach to salmon farm tenures” gets a little murkier.

The NDP announced that, starting in 2022, provincial tenures will only be granted to fish farm operators who have satisfied Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) that their operations will not “adversely impact wild salmon stocks.”

But isn’t DFO already looking out for wild salmon stocks, you might ask?

Not according to some scientists and legal experts, who believe DFO’s ability to protect wild salmon stocks is compromised because DFO is both the regulator of the salmon farming industry and a promoter of the industry and its products.

“In my opinion the federal government is really failing at overseeing this industry,” said Proboszcz.  

Olsen said distrust with DFO runs high when it comes to protecting wild salmon over and above the aquaculture industry.

Green Party MLA Adam Olsen spoke to The Narwhal in the B.C. legislature where he noted a painting in the Memorial Rotunda representing fishing, considered one of the four pillars of B.C.’s economy. Photo: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal

“The people in B.C. are increasingly skeptical about whether the DFO even likes fish or not,” Olsen told The Narwhal. “They’re not standing up for the right part of the industry…they’ve basically managed wild fish stocks to zero.”

“I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about that agency,” he said.

The 2012 federal Cohen Commission, which examined the decline of B.C. salmon stocks, identified DFO’s dual roles as both regulator and promoter as a potential conflict of interest that may impede the agency’s ability to protect wild fish stocks.

It recommended Ottawa remove salmon farming industry promotion from DFO’s mandate — something that hasn’t happened.

A similar conclusion was reached by an expert panel of the Royal Society of Canada.

And a recent report by Canada’s commissioner of the environment and sustainable development found the federal government has put wild salmon species in danger by not adequately managing risks associated with salmon farming.

Commissioner Julie Gelfand determined that DFO is not monitoring the health of wild fish, has not adequately enforced regulations aimed at minimizing harm to wild fish from salmon farming operations, and has set no limits on the amount of pesticides and drugs that open-net fish farms can use to treat diseases.

But the B.C. government can’t really do much to fix that because responsibility for wild salmon health rests with Ottawa.

“We expect Ottawa to fulfill its obligation to protect wild salmon,” Popham said. “And I’ve discussed this with [Fisheries] Minister [Dominic] Leblanc and it is my understanding that there is a renewed federal commitment to do so.”

So the second “new” rule essentially amounts to prodding the federal government to do its job properly, Proboszcz said.

“I think the government is trying to remind folks that the federal government is really responsible here.”

Who is responsible for what?

Before 2010, the province was responsible for managing most aspects of fish farming — including licensing and regulating the industry and regulating waste discharge — while the federal role focused on the potential impacts of aquaculture on wild fish and fish habitat.

But a 2009 B.C. Supreme Court decision determined that a fish farm operation is a “fishery.” The ruling clarified that the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction for regulating fisheries, including fish farms.

An aquaculture management agreement hammered out by Ottawa and B.C. in 2010 clarified the responsibilities of both governments with respect to salmon farming.

B.C. issues permits for sewage discharge and pesticide use and authorizes the use of crown land and the foreshore through the granting of tenure agreements.

DFO issues licences and remains responsible for the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat, and management and control of salmon farming and other aquaculture. It is also responsible for collecting data, and scientific research and monitoring programs.

Why all the fuss about salmon farms?

B.C. salmon farms raise Atlantic salmon in Pacific waters, making the farmed fish technically an invasive species.

The fish are packed into open net pens instead of raised in closed containment systems like one operated by the ‘Namgis First Nation on land near Port McNeill, which began selling land farmed salmon to market in 2014.

Fish farms are believed to be hot spots for infecting declining wild salmon stocks with sea lice and diseases.

Recent research found wild salmon that swim past fish farms are at a higher risk of contracting piscine reovirus, a virus that affects the health of fish hearts, making it more difficult for them to swim upstream to reach salmon spawning grounds.

B.C. is about to become the last place on the West Coast to allow open net salmon farms, after Washington announced earlier this year it will end fish farm tenures in its waters

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

By Maryann Watson, Marine Scientist and Stephanie Hewson, Staff Counsel at West Coast Environmental Law

Clouds of blood pumped straight from a fish plant in B.C. made worldwide headlines last week after diver Tavish Campbell published a shocking video revealing the practice. Since then, people from all over the province have asked us at West Coast Environmental Law about its legality.

The short answer is that the practice of discharging bloodwater from fish plants is legal for now, even if the blood contains instances of PRV. Currently, the federal government regulates fish farms and animal health, while the province regulates fish processing facilities. This has created two separate systems that are not clearly linked, leaving regulatory gaps that threaten the health and habitat of wild salmon and other marine organisms.

Fish Blood From Fish Farms

It appears that under the current regulations, fish blood can legally enter the ocean from open-net pen fish farms. The federal Fisheries Act prohibits unauthorized deposits of blood and other biological substances into the water (which likely qualify as "deleterious substances" under the Act), except when they come from fish farms directly. Under the Aquaculture Activities Regulation, fish farms can deposit fish blood and other matter (such as fish feed and feces) directly into the sea, though they must monitor for disease and other parameters, and to minimize the impact of the discharge.

Fish Blood from Fish Processing Facilities

It appears that fish blood can also legally enter the ocean from fish processing plants. Though the Fisheries Act prohibits the deposit of "deleterious substances," there's an exception when the release is authorized. It is not clear whether this exception includes provincial authorizations. The provincial Ministry of Environment regulates wastewater discharge from these plants through permits under the Environmental Management Act. We looked at the permit held by the Brown’s Bay fish processing facility, which requires the company to follow provincial and federal procedures when dealing with diseased fish, bloodwater treatment and disease monitoring.

Though the permit does not name the procedures that the company should follow, the practice captured in Tavish’s footage may violate the 1975 non-legally binding Fish Processing Operations Liquid Effluent Guidelines, which restrict the discharge of bloodwater and require treatment of contaminated process water.

What About PRV?

Both fish farms and fish processing facilities must monitor fish and fish blood for disease. So why is it legal to discharge bloodwater that contains PRV, despite the fact that it has been linked to HSMI?

Although discarding diseased fish parts into the water is prohibited under the federal Health of Animals Act and its regulations, PRV and HSMI are not listed as reportable diseases under the Act. So it appears that under the current regulations, it is legal to discharge fish processing water that contains instances of this virus.

This is a bigger issue than just one processing plant: over 80% of farmed salmon in BC carry PRV. However, under current regulations, farmed fish are not tested for the virus. Scientist Alexandra Morton and Ecojustice are in court with the federal government arguing that the government has been acting illegally by issuing licences allowing the transfer of farmed salmon without testing for the virus. Transferring fish into fish habitat or fish farms that carry disease or disease agents is prohibited in the Fishery (General) Regulations under the Fisheries Act.

The "bloodwater" dump exposes weaknesses in the fish processing regulatory system @WCELaw https://t.co/bZoKCZFqGf

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) December 6, 2017

What Can be Done?

Wild salmon are under assault from a slew of forces: pollution, changing ocean conditions, warmer waters, and possibly open-net pen aquaculture itself, as the 3-year judicial inquiry led by Mr. Justice Cohen found back in 2012. Protecting wild salmon appears to have been lost in the complex division of responsibilities between the provincial and federal governments for oversight of fish farming operations.

Though this fish processing plant may have been treating the bloodwater to the standard of the current regulations, it is apparent that these laws are not strong enough to protect wild salmon from disease.

Members of the Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw and ‘Namgis nations have been occupying fish farm sites in the Broughton Archipelago off northern Vancouver Island since August, and want the fish farms removed from their territory. Tavish’s video and First Nations’ occupation of fish farms highlight the environmental and public health risks associated with aquaculture on the Pacific coast, from both cultivation of fish and fish processing. We, like many others, are concerned about the lack of adequate regulation, oversight and enforcement at all stages of fish farming and processing.

Though the Province is responsible for inspecting some of these facilities, ultimately the protection of fish and fish habitat in marine environments falls to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). As a DFO workshop noted back in 2003, we need to address public concern about fish plant effluents, “perhaps the least examined source of marine environmental effects,” and find solutions that include changing the law.

Thankfully, following the release of this footage, the provincial and federal governments both announced investigations into the regulatory requirements for fish processing plants. A month ago the BC government launched a review of the Province’s animal testing laboratory which conducts diagnostic testing on farmed salmon. While the reviews from both governments are a welcome step, there is a larger problem of under-enforcement and regulatory omission, and a need for a hard look at the industry.

There are many plants and fish farms that require action from both levels of government, including clearer regulations and regular inspections and enforcement. The development of a federal Aquaculture Act is an opportunity to introduce stronger standards for this industry and better protections for wild and farmed fish.

We’ll be examining solutions to the issue of bloodwater discharges that may affect not only wild salmon health, but the health of other marine organisms. West Coast is willing to assist with the government-led review processes, and encourages both governments to look at the entire aquaculture industry closely, with the goal of ensuring our laws are up to the task of not only protecting but restoring our wild salmon.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Salmon have been swimming in Pacific Northwest waters for at least seven million years, as indicated by fossils of large saber-tooth salmon found in the area. During that time, they’ve been a key species in intricate, interconnected coastal ecosystems, bringing nitrogen and other nutrients from the ocean and up streams and rivers to spawning grounds, feeding whales, bears and eagles and fertilizing the magnificent coastal rainforests along the way. For as long as people have lived in the area, salmon have been an important food source and have helped shape cultural identities.

But something is happening to Pacific coast salmon. This year, B.C.’s sockeye salmon run was the lowest in recorded history. Commercial and First Nations fisheries on the world’s biggest sockeye run on B.C.’s longest river, the Fraser, closed. Fewer than 900,000 sockeye out of a projected 2.2 million returned to the Fraser to spawn. Areas once teeming with salmon are all but empty.

Salmon define West Coast communities, especially Indigenous ones. The West Coast is a Pacific salmon forest. Today, salmon provide food and contribute to sustainable economies built on fishing and ecotourism. West Coast children learn about the salmon life cycle early in their studies.

Salmon migrations, stretching up to 3,000 kilometres, are among the world’s most awe-inspiring. After spending adult lives in the ocean, salmon make the arduous trip up rivers against the current, returning to spawn and die where they hatched. Only one out of every thousand salmon manages to survive and return to its freshwater birthplace.

So what’s going wrong? Climate change is amplifying a long list of stressors salmon already face. Sockeye salmon are sensitive to temperature changes, so higher ocean and river temperatures can have serious impacts. Even small degrees of warming can kill them. Low river flows from unusually small snowpacks linked to climate change make a tough journey even harder.

Oceans absorb the brunt of our climate pollution — more than 90 per cent of emissions-trapped heat since the 1970s. Most warming takes place near the surface, where salmon travel, with the upper 75 metres warming 0.11 C per decade between 1971 and 2010. Although ocean temperatures have always fluctuated, climate change is lengthening those fluctuations. A giant mass of warmer-than-average water in the Pacific, known as “the blob”, made ocean conditions even warmer, with El Niño adding to increased temperatures. Salmon have less food, and face new predators migrating north to beat the heat.

Beyond creating poor environmental conditions for salmon, climate change increases disease risks. Warm conditions have led to sea lice outbreaks in farmed and wild salmon, and a heart and muscle inflammatory disease has been found in at least one farm. Scientists researching salmon movement through areas with farms are finding wild fish, especially young ones, with elevated parasite levels. Diseases that cause even slight deficiencies in swimming speed or feeding ability could make these marathon swimmers easy prey.

Some question whether wild salmon will remain a West Coast food staple. For the first time, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program has advised consumers to avoid buying chinook and coho from four South Coast fisheries. Researchers also predict changing conditions will drive important food fish north by up to 18 kilometres a decade.

Disappearing salmon don’t just affect humans but all coastal ecosystems and wildlife. Eighty-two endangered southern resident killer whales depend on chinook salmon to survive. As chinook stocks go down, the likelihood that these whales could become extinct goes up.

Although the federal government has committed to implement recommendations from Justice Bruce Cohen’s inquiry into Fraser River sockeye and to follow the Wild Salmon Policy, reversing this dire situation will take widespread concerted and immediate action. A weak provincial climate plan that fails to meet emissions targets and acceptance of new ocean-based fish farm applications won’t help wild salmon. We need to move fish farms out of the water and onto land.

Salmon are resilient and have survived ice ages and other challenges over millions of years. They’ve survived having their streams paved over. They’ve survived toxins dumped into their environments. The question is, can they — and the ecosystems that depend on them — survive climate change and fish farms and all the other stressors humans are putting on them?

Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation senior communications specialist Theresa Beer.

Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.